Revealing the manufacture, distribution and withdrawal of RMB coins

　　Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Yanxia

　　Renminbi coins, also known as "steel coins", are closely related to our lives. How many processes does it take to create a coin? Where did the coins you threw when you took the bus and bought drinks end up? Xinhua News Agency reporters recently walked into the mint and commercial banks to unveil the mystery of coin production, manufacturing and sorting.

　　Manufacturing: more than ten processes

　　On the afternoon of October 9, the reporter came to the second workshop of Shanghai Mint Co., Ltd., and eight blank cake presses were working intensively. After the "nickel-clad steel" green cakes enter the embossing machine through the feeding hoist, the machine impresses each green cake, and then enters the online mechanical inspection equipment through the conveyor belt to judge the product quality, including whether the pattern is clear and full, whether the front and back molds are aligned, etc. Unqualified products will be rejected, and qualified products will enter the automatic packaging line for wrapping, plastic sealing and packing.

　　These are only the last three steps of coin manufacturing: stamping, testing and packaging. The birth of a coin has to go through two major links: mold design and production, and manufacturing and production, and more than ten processes.

　　Drawing design is the first step of coinage. Among the coins that have been issued in circulation in China, the adoption of the national emblem pattern and the design of the flower series pattern have profound political significance and historical background. After the design draft is completed, the next steps are to make oil soil mold, copy gypsum mold, cast copper mold, carve original mold, copy working mold and so on.

　　Yu Min, a senior arts and crafts artist of Shanghai Mint Co., Ltd., is the sculptor of the original model of one yuan peony coin in the fourth set of RMB in China. He told reporters that because it was the first time to adopt the new material of "nickel-clad steel", the three-dimensional relief was repeatedly modified on the clay mold and gypsum mold, and it took two or three years from the beginning to the end. "According to the design drawings, the biggest problem is to grasp the height, which is 10% of a millimeter, so it needs to be adjusted constantly."

　　After the mold is made, the next step is the production process, which mainly includes strip casting, blank cake punching, blank cake polishing, blank cake printing, weighing and counting, product packaging and so on. At present, the production of coins in China is mainly completed by Shanghai Mint Co., Ltd., Nanjing Mint Co., Ltd. and Shenyang Mint Co., Ltd.

　　Issue: Four sets of coins witness the economic and social development of China.

　　At present, China has issued a total of four sets of RMB coins. On December 1, 1957, the People’s Bank of China officially issued the second set of RMB, in which coins were issued for the first time in China, including one cent, two cents and five cents, and were made of aluminum-magnesium alloy. This set of coins, also known as "hard coins", has been in circulation for the longest time in China and is still in circulation.

　　The design and manufacture of this set of coins was carried out under the condition that the national economic strength was relatively weak and the coin-making technology, equipment and materials faced many difficulties. Nowadays, people basically don’t use pennies in their lives, but the casting and issuing of aluminum pennies is an important mark of RMB issuance, and it is also a historical witness of China’s economic development.

　　The coins in the third set of RMB in China were issued on April 15th, 1980. There are four denominations: one dime, two cents, five cents and one yuan. The back of one yuan coin adopts the Great Wall pattern, so it is also called "Great Wall Coin". This set of coins stopped circulating in the market on July 1, 2000, which is the only coin that stopped circulating in China at present. "Great Wall Coin" has a small production quantity and a short circulation time. In some of these years, there was no public issuance of currency, only in the binding book. It is precisely because of its scarcity that the "Great Wall Coin" is sought after by collectors and the market price is high.

　　With the growth of national economy, the circulation function of aluminum coins in the market is declining year by year, and the "Great Wall coins" are mostly deposited in the collection field. The market urgently needs a new set of "round and dime coins" to alleviate the pressure of money demand. On June 1st, 1992, China issued the fourth set of coins in RMB, which was designed with flower patterns for the first time. The main landscape patterns on the back of corner 1, corner 5 and 1 yuan were chrysanthemum, plum blossom and peony respectively, commonly known as "old three flowers" in the industry. Among them, 1 yuan coins are made of "nickel-plated steel core", which opens the history of large-scale use of nickel-plated steel core materials to make coins in China.

　　In the 1990s, with the rapid development of national economy, the demand for cash is increasing day by day. In addition, the rapid development of automation technology and fine processing industry, and the popularity of automatic vending system all put forward new requirements for the quality and quantity of coins in circulation. The fifth set of RMB coins in China was issued one after another on October 16th, 2000. The name of "People’s Bank of China" was adopted on the front for the first time, and orchids, lotus flowers and chrysanthemums were the main motifs on the back of corner 1, corner 5 and 1 yuan respectively. This set of coins is also called "New Three Flowers".

　　A coin, between square inches, is the epitome and witness of China’s increasing comprehensive national strength, and it is also an important carrier of condensing national traditional culture.

　　Return: Weighing and Recovery in Commercial Banks

　　When new coins are issued, old coins are returned. At about 10: 00 am on October 10th, a convoy carrying coins recovered from the bus company drove into the reservoir area at the North Branch of Shanghai Branch of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China. The escort handed over the coins to the warehouse staff, and then the coins were sent to the sorting workshop.

　　In the workshop, the staff will pour coins into the sorting machine, and the machine will identify the coins, and the damaged coins, counterfeit coins and game coins will be automatically ejected. The staff told the reporter that the machine’s criteria for judging whether coins are qualified include diameter, thickness and resistance. Coins that meet the circulation requirements will be automatically rolled, boxed and boxed, and then the bank will put them on the market again, and the unqualified coins will be handed over to the People’s Bank of China for destruction.

　　Jin Lieqi, president of the North District Sub-branch of ICBC Shanghai Branch, said that his sub-branch collects about 500,000 coins every day, and bus companies, temples and other places collect a large amount of coins. "Recycled coins are calculated according to weighing, and there may be a small error, but they are basically the same. Counting one by one is not realistic in terms of time and cost."

　　It is worth noting that with the development of mobile payment such as Alipay and WeChat, the demand for coins is decreasing. Jin Lieqi told reporters that the bank puts in 300,000 to 350,000 coins every day, and large shopping malls, supermarkets and hospitals are places with a large amount of coins. This year, the amount of coins dropped by 5% to 10%. "In the past, every summer was the peak of coin delivery, because the consumption of cold drinks and fruits was strong, but now small traders rarely go to the counter to exchange coins."

　　The amount of coins returned is greater than the amount put in. What about the backlog of coins? Jin Lieqi said that with the approval of the central bank, the bank began to put coins into other commercial banks on a pilot basis last year for horizontal adjustment in the same industry.

　　This is part of the central bank’s promotion of coin self-circulation. Yu Weiqiang, director of the currency, gold and silver department of the Shanghai headquarters of the central bank, said that due to various reasons, the amount of coins deposited in China is large, and a large number of coins are left in the hands of ordinary people, resulting in a waste of social resources.

　　"The central bank requires commercial banks to speed up the self-circulation of coins, activate the deposited currency, and increase the delivery of machinery in the delivery and withdrawal links, including coin changers, sorters, and rolling equipment, which facilitates the people to exchange coins nearby and improves the efficiency of financial services." Yu Weiqiang said.